國立政治大學 華人宗教研究中心

【公告：原訂於10月3日(二)，Prof. Arrault華瀾教授演講緊急取消，擇期再辦  政治大學華人宗教研究中心 & 法國遠東學院】

講題：走進中國神像：由下往上看中國社會

Inside Chinese Statues in China or Chinese Society as Seen from Below

講者：Alain Arrault（華瀾，Professor, French School of Asian Studies [EFEO] 法國遠東學院教授）

主持: 林振源（政治大學華人宗教研究中心主任）

時間：2023年10月3日(二)，14:00-16:00

地點：政治大學百年樓一樓106教室

Abstract

Compared to Korea and Japan, studies on the interior of statues are rare in China and cannot be compared in terms of quality and of quantity to the Korean and Japanese investigations. However, a research program conducted over several years has made it possible to methodically investigate statues from the Hunan province. Strictly speaking, these objects are not Buddhist or Taoist statues such as the ones kept at large temples, but, rather, statuettes placed on domestic altars. The "belly" (fuzang 腹臟) of the statues contains certificates of consecration mentioning the exact provenance of the work, the names of donors, of the sculptor, of the statuette itself, and the date of its consecration. To this day detailed data concerning 3000 statuettes both from private and public collections has been collected and digitized. These small objects—about twenty to thirty centimeters—, contain written documents that provide us with authentic civil status records and make it possible to retrace the history of this popular cult practice over a long period of time, i.e., from the seventeenth to the first half of the twentieth century. Documents—consecration certificates—preserved inside statuettes can be addressed to great divinities of the Chinese pantheon, local deities, ancestors— both close and distant—and spiritual masters belonging to a specific lineage or directly to current masters. Thus, an examination of these singular documents inserted in ‘viscera’ of statuettes tell us another story about religious practices in Chinese society as seen from below or, literally, ‘an insider’s view’.

***中文演講，自由參加，無須報名

聯合主辦

政治大學華人宗教研究中心

法國遠東學院

政治大學宗教研究所